Statins May Cut Risk Of Death From Cancer

11/8/2012 1:20 PM ET

Statins, or cholesterol-lowering medications like Lipitor and Crestor, may help lower the risk of cancer says a large study of Danish cancer patients published in the New England Journal of Medicine on Wednesday (November 8).

In the nationwide survey, which included nearly 300,000 patients (aged 40 plus) about 20,000 of whom had used statins prior to their cancer diagnosis, statin users had a 15% reduction in the risk of cancer mortality compared with those who had not used the drugs.

"That doesn't sound like that much, but chemotherapy only offers about a 15 percent to 20 percent reduction in the risk of dying," Dr. Stig Bojesen, an author of the study and staff specialist in the department of clinical biochemistry at Copenhagen University Hospital, told HealthDay News.

Eric Jacobs, Strategic Director of Pharmacoepidemiology at the American Cancer Society, added, in a statement, that the findings are "exciting," but "it does not mean people with cancer should start using statins in the hopes of improving their progress."